Detection and Classification of Baleen Whale Vocalizations from Autonomous Platforms

Abstract

Our long-range objective is to understand the oceanographic processes that influence the distribution of whales in the ocean. In support of this objective, we seek to develop new techniques and technologies that enable us to relate the occurrence and movement of animals to physical, biological, and possibly anthropogenic forcing mechanisms over long time scales. This work will ultimately improve our ability to predict whale distribution and bolster efforts to mitigate human impacts on marine mammals. Our research has three specific objectives: (1) Develop a platform-independent modular acoustic package capable of automated detection and classification of whale vocalizations and suitable for use on a variety of autonomous platforms; (2) Characterize the efficacy of several automated detector algorithms using a rich set of collocated visual and acoustic measurements collected in 2006 and 2007; and (3) Perform quantitative field trials to evaluate baleen whale detection performance in the context of other visual, acoustic, and environmental observations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 2009
Accession Number
ADA531236

Entities

People

  • David M. Fratantoni
  • Mark F. Baumgartner

Organizations

  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acoustic Detection
  • Acoustic Measurement
  • Algorithms
  • Animals
  • Autonomous Systems
  • Autonomous Vehicles
  • Classification
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Frequency
  • Mammals
  • Marine Mammals
  • Oceans
  • Platforms
  • Signal Processing
  • Vocalization
  • Whales

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Acoustical Oceanography.
  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Marine Mammal Biology